Valve is changing the shape of Dota 2's tournament structure

Next year's competitive Dota 2 scene will bring with it an overhaul to the game's entire esports structure.

Currently the game revolves around a limited number of Major tournaments backed by Valve. This is changing, however, with Valve now choosing to back a growing number of smaller third party tournaments.

Furthermore, the invite system will be ditched in favour of a more transparent points system which will be tied to players rather than to teams. This means that should a player switch to a rival team, their points will travel with them.

Only the points of a team's top three scorers will contribute to a team's overall score so as to not deter the signing of less experienced younger players.

New Major events will be required to offer a minimum prize pool of $500k which Valve itself will then match, bringing the prize pool up to $1m+. Minors, meanwhile, must offer around $150k, with Valve again matching that number. Majors will award more points than Minors, while The International will of course offer the most of all.

In the past year, we've had two Valve Majors shape the competitive landscape leading to The International. However, for the next year we will be taking a more organic approach to growing the competitive ecosystem, working more closely with third-party tournaments,” Valve said.

To help teams and fans keep track of standings throughout the year, a leaderboard of individual player Qualifying Points and team Qualifying Point Rankings will be available for everyone to follow along with as teams fight their way towards next year's International. Best of luck to the teams competing in August, and we look forward to the upcoming season once a champion is crowned.”